President Kennedy made an emotional visit to his ancestral homeland

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The US President John F Kennedy has received a rapturous welcome on an emotional visit to his ancestral homeland in County Wexford, Ireland.

On the second day of his four-day trip to Ireland, the president travelled by helicopter this morning to County Wexford.

Hundreds of wellwishers cheered and waved flags on his arrival at Wexford town and a choir of 300 boys greeted him singing "The Boys of Wexford", a ballad about an insurrection in 1798.

The president left his bodyguards to join them in the second chorus, prompting one American photographer to burst into tears.

Once the singing was over, Mr Kennedy shook hands with as many schoolchildren as he could reach.

He was then driven to the nearby port of New Ross from where Patrick Kennedy, his great-grandfather, had set sail for a better life in America back in 1848 during the potato famine.

In a speech at the quayside he said: "When my great-grandfather left here to become a cooper in East Boston he carried nothing with him except two things - a strong religious faith and a strong desire for liberty.

"I am glad to say that all of his grandchildren have valued that inheritance."

'Welcome home, Mr President'

At Dunganstown, five miles (8kms) south of New Ross, President Kennedy visited his ancestral homestead, a small croft building and farm.

The president and two of his sisters who accompanied him on this trip met 15 of their cousins, including the current owner of thehomestead, Mary Ryan who welcomed him with a kiss on the cheek.

Tea had been laid out on trestle tables in the yard and a banner declared "Welcome home, Mr President".

America's first Catholic president spent about an hour chatting with his Irish family, cut a large cake and with teacup in hand said: "I want to drink a cup of tea to all those Kennedys who went and all those Kennedys who stayed."

He was then driven to Wexford town where he made much of Ireland'ssubjugationand religious persecution by the British.

This smoker said the findings "didn't frighten him at all"

The report, published today, studied the dramatic increase in deaths from lung cancer over the past 25 years and concluded the main cause was smoking.

But tobacco firms have rejected the findings saying they are merely a 'matter of opinion'.

The government has indicated that an educational campaign to raise awareness on the dangers of smoking will be launched via local health authorities.

Shares unaffected

The report states that in 1945 the mortality rate from lung cancer was 188 deaths in every million. Ten years later the figure had almost doubled to 388 in every million.

The report, which looked at evidence from 21 investigations in six countries, found cigarette smoking to be the predominant cause for this rise.

Mr Vaughan-Morgan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health said: "The government feels that it is right to ensure that this latest authoritative opinion is brought effectively to public notice, so that everyone may know the risks involved."

But he made it clear that people, armed with the facts, would be able to make up their own minds and smoking would not be banned.

The prohibition of smoking in theatres, cinemas and public transport is not on the agenda, he added.

It is estimated that between ?00m and ?20m in revenue is generated by the sale of cigarettes.

The Conservatives have questioned what alternative taxes the government would introduce to cover that figure should cigarette smoking now be eliminated.

Members of the general public, asked by the BBC for their reaction to the findings, appeared unphased.

One smoker said that, although he was not considering giving up smoking himself, he thought the younger generation would be well advised not to start.

Another man said he was "not frightened at all" by the findings and may even consider increasing the number of cigarettes he smokes each day.

These views were reflected on the stock market where shares in leading tobacco companies remained largely unaffected by the news.

homestead:a house, especially a farmhouse, with adjoining buildings and land（家園，田產(chǎn)）

subjugation :forced submission to control by others（鎮(zhèn)壓；平息）

shelling:the heavy fire of artillery to saturate an area rather than hit a specific target（炮擊）